Sunday, January 14, 2007

Much ado was made about Urban Meyer's alleged campaigning to get into the BCS Championship game. He was roundly criticized for his perceived lack of modesty.

Let's assume that Meyer's "campaigning" did, in fact, influence the poll voters (a premise I don't accept, but will concede here just to make a point). Can anyone argue now, in retrospect, that he was wrong in his assessment that the Gators deserved to be playing in Glendale? Of course not. Many columnists have already written that of the two teams that squared off a week ago it was OSU that looked like it didn't belong.

So let's go back in time and pretend that Urban Meyer had ignored the questions from the media about the Gators possibly playing in the BCS title game. Let's pretend he had kept his mouth shut and been the good boy that his critics claim that he wasn't. So what would have happened?

Michigan would have been selected to play OSU in a rematch, and the Buckeyes would have probably won because Jim Tressel owns Lloyd Carr. But even if Michigan had won, it would have been the biggest fraud perpetuated on college football fans since, well since a couple of years ago when Auburn got passed over.

So if you believe a coach can influence the voters then you should thank Urban Meyer for "campaigning". Because of him at least we know one of the teams that played in that game deserved to be there.

The idea that campaigning under the current system is somehow wrong doesn't make sense to me. In honestly answering questions from the media about possibly being left out of the Championship Meyer asked the voters to look at Florida's resume closely. In saying that Michigan had already had its chance, Meyer appealed to common sense. Is that so wrong?

Would we prefer that the voters make their decisions based on the opinions of so-called pundits at Disney/ABC/ESPN that, in addition to having a lot more influence in the game of college football than they should, also have a vested interest in pumping up the Big Ten while shunning the SEC? No, I think it's the American way to let people speak their minds and make their case. If what they say is garbage then we have to trust that those who have been given the responsibility to make the decisions will see it the arguments for what they are worth.

If we, as a college football watching public, don't want coaches to "lower themselves" by "campaigning" for their teams then perhaps we should try to make winning a championship less of a political process. There's no need to campaign in any other sport because you must simply win your way in.

The BCS didn't exist then, Florida got to play FSU because Florida WON THE SEC, which gives an automatic bowl bid.

Fact is, Florida won the SEC and the bowl game they automatically got invited to because of the SECC win, all the other teams did not win out. Florida wins the NC, not because they were voted to play FSU, but because luck so happened that FSU and UF saw each other again in the Sugar Bowl.

Shlomo is right. Florida was not selected for the 1996/97 Sugar Bowl, they won the bid on the basis of being the SEC champ. It was FSU that was selected as the at-large team in that Bowl game. Not only that, Florida had to win the SEC title game after they lost to Florida State. Big difference between losing your way into the National championship and winning your way in.

yeh, it would have been sweeter finding a southern coach and not another yankee like Urban but these days it doesn't matter. look at Bama hiring that Ohio guy Nick Saban, don't understand them given all that money to a yankee. can't we find any southern coaches so the games mean more to us?

Don't add fuel to Big10 fans fire, anonymous. All over the OSU message boards AFTER the game they were talking about how the southern teams and fans are nothing more than ignorant Stars and Bars waving rednecks.

gator duck: "ignorant Stars and Bars waving rednecks" what the uck, now the latest tonight is Ginn might have actually been able to play but held off cause off trying to protect his NFL status and that Gonzo and Pittman also didn't give a crap about playing Florida thus giving a lackluster performance. do ya think there's any truth to this? like this is what college football has become just a means to and end and the end for them stopped with the Michigan game. that's hardly fair to their fans, seems to me our defense chased Smith all over the place but it's true they didn't show. Now tonight breaking news Teddy Ginn Sr confirms it was about "the finacial thing" if anybody is rednecks it's these sorry sorts.

Recognition

I can’t say enough about my two favorite blogs Get the Picture and Saurian Sagacity. There are not two more consistently thought-provoking and analytical college football blogs on the internet.
-Orange and Blue Hue

Rare is the SMQ shout out for the sole purpose of shouting out, but even rarer is the high substantive quality of disinterested naysaying in progress at Saurian Sagacity, where poster Mergz is steadily blowing up notions of "National Championships" new and old...-Sunday Morning Quarterback

In the old days, long before Urban Meyer roamed the sidelines at The Swamp, even before Steve Spurrier was slinging touchdowns and kicking game-winning field goals, some sports writers gave the University of Florida's football team a long-forgotten nickname: theSaurians. Today, two Florida alums pay tribute to those scribes of old as we enjoy the present and look toward the future.